什麼是祕魯

正式名稱祕魯共和國（Republic of Peru）

面積1,285,216平方公里。首都︰利馬。人口約26,090,000（2001）。幾乎有一半的人口是克丘亞印第安人，近1/3是梅斯蒂索人（印第安人和西班牙人的混血後裔），還有一小群白人和艾馬拉印第安人。語言︰西班牙語、克丘亞語和艾馬拉語（均為官方語）。宗教︰天主教和新教。貨幣︰新索爾（S/.）。祕魯是南美洲第三大國，可劃分為三個地理區（由西到東）：沿海區，為狹長的沙漠低地地帶；高地區，主要是安地斯山脈的一部分；廣闊、有森林覆蓋的東部山麓和平原區，主要由亞馬遜河流域的熱帶雨林構成。祕魯屬開發中混合型經濟，以製造業、服務業、農業和礦業為基礎，大多數工業（包括石油）已在1960年代晚期和1970年代初國有化，不過在1990年代許多企業再度私有化。政府形式是多黨制中央集權共和國，一院制。國家元首暨政府首腦是總統。

祕魯曾是印加帝國的中心，與其首都庫斯科一起建於1230年左右。1533年為皮薩羅所征服，此後為西班牙統治了近300年。1821年宣佈獨立，1824年獲得自由。1879～1884年與智利發生太平洋戰爭，結果戰敗。與厄瓜多的邊界糾紛在1941年爆發了戰爭，結果祕魯控制了亞馬遜河流域的一大部分；進一步的紛爭持續下去，直至1998年畫定邊界為止。1968年政府為一軍事執政團所推翻，1980年才恢復文人統治。1992年藤森謙也的政府解散了議會，次年頒佈新憲法。後來成功戰勝了光輝道路派和圖帕克.阿馬魯（Tupac Amaru）的叛亂活動。1995年藤森謙成功連任，但在2000年大選時，被控有詐欺的嫌疑，同年底他的政府潰敗下來。2001年托萊多（Alejandro Toledo）成為祕魯第一個民選出來的克丘亞族總統。

Peru

Country, western South America. Area: 496,225 sq mi (1,285,216 sq km). Population (2000 est.): 25,661,690. Capital: Lima. Almost half of the people are Quechua Indians, and nearly one-third are mestizos of combined Indian and Spanish ancestry; smaller groups include whites and Aymara Indians. Languages: Spanish, Quechua, and Aymara (all official). Religions: Roman Catholicism (official), Protestantism. Currency: new sol. Peru is the third largest nation in South America and may be divided into three geographic regions from west to east: the coast, a long, narrow belt of desert lowlands; the highlands, the Peruvian portion of the Andes; and the vast, forested eastern foothills and plains, consisting mainly of the tropical rainforests of the Amazon River basin. Peru has a developing mixed economy based largely on services, manufacturing, agriculture, and mining. Most industries, including the petroleum industry, were nationalized in the late 1960s and early 1970s, but many were privatized again in the 1990s. It is a republic with one legislative house; its head of state and government is the president. Peru was the center of the Inca empire, which was established c. 1230 with its capital at Cuzco. In 1533 it was conquered by Francisco Pizarro, and was dominated by Spain for almost 300 years as the viceroyalty of Peru. It declared its independence in 1821, and freedom was achieved in 1824. Peru was defeated in the War of the Pacific with Chile (1879-84). A boundary dispute with Ecuador erupted into war in 1941, which gave Peru control over a larger part of the Amazon basin; further disputes ensued until the border was demarcated again in 1998. The government was overthrown by a military junta in 1968, and civilian rule was restored in 1980. The government of Alberto Fujimori dissolved the legislature in 1992 and promulgated a new constitution the following year. It later successfully combated the Shining Path and Tupac Amarú rebel movements. Fujimori won a second term in 1995, but charges of fraud accompanied his election to a third term in 2000; his government crumbled later that year. In 2001 Alejandro Toledo became Peru's first democratically elected president of Quechua ethnicity.